The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Dimorphotheca plant, botanically known as Dimorphotheca aurantiaca and referred to by the cultivar name `Mauve`.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Emerald, Victoria, Australia. The objective of the breeding program was to create new compact Dimorphotheca cultivars with high temperature tolerance.
The new cultivar originated from a cross made by the Inventor in 1992 of a proprietary selection of Dimorphotheca aurantiaca identified as 90/78 as the female, or seed, parent and a proprietary selection of Dimorphotheca aurantiaca identified as 91/179 as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Dimorphotheca was selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of this cross in a controlled environment in Emerald, Victoria, Australia in 1992.
Plants of the new cultivar are different from plants of the female parent, the selection 90/78 in plant habit, inflorescence size and floret color.
Plants of the new Dimorphotheca are different from plants of the male parent, the selection 91/179 in stem length and floret color.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings and by tissue culture at Emerald, Victoria, Australia, has shown that the unique features of this new Dimorphotheca are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.